


Please Tell Me This Is Your Dog

by fallofthereichenbach



Category: Merlin - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Neighbour AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-08 09:38:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6849217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallofthereichenbach/pseuds/fallofthereichenbach
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin Emrys did not ask for a puppy</p>
<p>Merlin Emrys did not ask for an idiotic neighbour who was determined to 'help' him</p>
<p>But somehow those are the two things he ended up with</p>
            </blockquote>





	Please Tell Me This Is Your Dog

**Author's Note:**

> Idk but I enjoyed writing this
> 
> And I hope you enjoy reading it

When Merlin Emrys first heard 'The Noise', he thought it was his alarm clock. To be fair to him, it was 3am and his brain was fair from rational. It was surprisingly easy to confuse the sounds of scratching and yelping with the sound of beeping.

However, when he groggily rolled over to face his clock, he also had to face the fact that his alarm wouldn't go off for another four hours.

So he had to look for another explanation for the source of 'The Noise' that was really starting to get on his nerves.

He stumbled his way over to his front door (where 'The Noise' seemed to be the loudest) and pulled it open. And in fell...

A dog. 

A puppy, no less.

"What the fuck?"

The puppy, as expected, did not respond. It just sat at his feet and looked up at him with big eyes. If Merlin's limited knowledge of dogs could be trusted (it probably couldn't), the dog was a kind of Golden Retriever. It was young enough to not be quite fully grown yet, but old enough to still be pretty big and bold.

It was fairly cute, Merlin supposed, but not cute enough for it to warrant being inside his flat at 3 in the morning without invitation or prewarning.

The dog didn't have a collar or lead with it, which was frankly irresponsible of whoever owned it. It did however seem well looked after; soft fur, healthy teeth, a gently wagging tail. It probably belonged to someone nearby.

Merlin's building management did in fact allow him to keep pets, but the fact that someone in his building did genuinely own a dog surprised him slightly. He didn't know the people that well, but no one looked as though they'd have enough time in the day to look after a puppy. They were mostly all students, like him, or important business people - the kind who wouldn't even touch an animal for fear of messing up their important business suits.

But it was 3am, and Merlin had to find the owner of the dog, and hopefully do so in time for a few more hours of sleep.

 

-

 

He decided to start at the obvious place. His mildly obnoxious next-door neighbour, Arthur Pendragon.

Arthur had moved in a few months ago, and Merlin wasn't exactly his biggest fan. He played music at ridiculous hours of the night and the morning - not loud enough that Merlin felt he had the right to complain, but not quiet enough that he could ignore it. And then the guy had the nerve to be completely chirpy and happy during the day. Merlin would oversleep his alarm and drag himself out of bed only to be stupidly late for work, and Arthur would make irritating and unnecessarily cheery conversation with him whilst they were waiting for the lift.

The fact that Arthur had an easy but well-paid job being an assistant at his father's office and Merlin was working his ass off trying to get hired with his design work whilst taking a bunch of uni courses just rubbed salt into the wound.

So Merlin had no problem whatsoever knocking on Arthur's door at 3am and presenting him with the puppy who was growing steadily in excitement levels.

Besides, if Merlin had to make a guess as to the kind of person who would impulsively buy a puppy and then be irresponsible enough to lose it, then Arthur Pendragon would be right at the top of his list.

Arthur's light was on, and Merlin could even hear the faint sounds of music coming from inside, so it was safe to assume that Arthur was up already - or that he hadn't gone to bed in the first place.

After a few seconds, the door swung open. A slightly dishevelled Arthur Pendragon peered round the door, before spotting Merlin and opening it wider.

"Merlin! To what do I owe the pleasure? Aren't you usually in bed by now?" Arthur grinned at him, miming checking an imaginary watch. Merlin gritted his teeth. Clearly Arthur remembered the last time Merlin had paid him a visit, in which he had threatened to set fire to his apartment unless he turned his goddamn music off. 

"Or did you get out of bed specially to come see me?" Arthur continued, looking Merlin up and down.

Merlin looked down at his cartoon-dragon pyjamas that he bought from the children's section, and repressed a sigh. He then looked back at Arthur, who was in a t shirt and boxer shorts.

"You look like you only just got out of bed to answer your door," Merlin retorted.

The puppy, who was clearly starting to get bored of the attention not being directly on it, let out a soft but insistent bark. It then trotted past Arthur into his apartment.

"Woah, since when did you have a dog?"

"Since it woke me up by barking outside my door five minutes ago," Merlin followed the dog into Arthur's flat, hoping he was about to watch it piss over the expensive carpet.

"Y'know, I think you should probably get your light sleeping problem checked out by a doctor. You keep up getting woken up by ridiculous things. Y'know, dogs, and music that is so quiet that barely even I can hear it..."

Merlin rolled his eyes."

"So I'm guessing that this isn't your dog then?"

"Why the hell would it be my dog?"

"I don't know!" Merlin could hear the volume of his voice start to rise, and made no effort to stop it. "It's got to be someone's dog, and it's not mine. I just assumed that you'd gotten drunk or something and decided to be responsible enough to take care of another life form, and then realised that you're too good to own a dog and forgot about it. It seems like the sort of thing you'd do."

Arthur looked shocked for a second, before regaining the ability to speak again.

"Wow. Where did all of that come from?"

Merlin brought a hand up to his head for a moment before forcing the words out.

"No, I'm... sorry. I just didn't get enough sleep last night, and... Look, it's not your problem. I'll just take the dog and go find it's proper owner."

Merlin tried to summon the dog from where it had curled up on the floor, but it didn't budge. If only he knew it's name, it would be a lot easier.

"Where are you gonna look for the owner?" Arthur said randomly, after watching him become increasingly irritated with this stupid dog who refused to move.

"Around the building, I guess. Then I'll go take it down to the police station and it'll be their responsibility."

"Wait, so you're gonna go around knocking on doors at 3 in the morning?" Arthur said skeptically.

"I knocked on your door and you didn't care too much," Merlin pointed out.

"No, but I am basically nocturnal. I don't sleep much, and anyway I wasn't asleep when you came over. Everyone with any kind of normal sleeping pattern would probably punch you in the face."

"You think?"

"Look at how crabby you got because the dog woke you up in the first place," Arthur grinned, and elbowed Merlin gently, "Nah, I think we should wait until 8am at the earliest. Then, when everyone starts heading off to work and stuff, we can ask around and pretty much cover the entire building. The front desk would probably have information about it. Then if we get nowhere with that, we can print some flyers, maybe ask around the local area..."

"We?" Was all Merlin's sleep-deprived brain could come up with as a response.

Arthur shuffled from foot to foot, and scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, yeah. I don't really have much else going on at the moment, and we need to ensure that this lil fella gets back home."

Arthur moved awkwardly to sit by the dog, and ruffled the fur on his head.

"Yeah, we do.." Merlin seemed to zone out momentarily, caught up with flyers and neighbours and questions, before he jerked himself back down to reality, "No, wait, I have work tomorrow. And so do you, right?"

"No one'll really care if I miss a day or two. Like I said, I don't have much going on at the moment."

"But I have to be in work for half eight, and then I have a lecture at twelve, and then I'm back in work until five."

"Miss a day! Phone in sick, I do it all the time."

"Yes, but... Arthur, your dad is the boss, no one's going to fire you for not turning up. I could be. And I need to go to my lectures so I can get through uni so I can get a proper job."

Arthur considered it for a moment. He didn't seem offended, just like he was thinking it through. He continued to stroke the dog, who was wagging it's tail and bobbing it's head affectionately.

"Look," Arthur finally said, "In the time that I've been living here (a grand total of six months) you haven't missed a single day of work, right? Sure, you've been late more times than I can count. But I bet you haven't had a day off in all the time you've been working there. So they'd probably be pretty grateful and relieved if you called in sick, just so they know you're not some cyborg-robot-spy who's come to kill them. And I dropped out of uni halfway through the second year - but that was for totally different reasons than missing a few lectures. Trust me, it's easy to make up the time.

"I'm not gonna try to make you miss work and stuff. I can find the owner by myself if I have to, it'll be fine. But I know that it would be a lot easier if you helped, and probably a lot more fun too. And hey - maybe this is life telling you to take more opportunities, and live a little. Dude, when the universe sends you a dog, you kind of have to take it."

Merlin was silent for a few minutes as he processed it.

"Why are you giving me such a motivational speech just to convince me to skip work and find the owners of a dog?"

"Because it's 3am and there's honestly nothing I'd rather do with my life."

Merlin looked into Arthur's eyes, and they seem honest and true. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

"Alright, fine. Let's do this."

Merlin sat on the floor next to Arthur and the dog, and leaned against the wall.

"Yes. Good. Right, it's 3am, what do you want the plan to be?" 

"It's actually half past 3, and I think what you said before, about waiting until 8am, sounds good," Merlin held down a yawn.

"Okay, we'll wait until 8. What do you want to do until then?"

If Merlin was being honest, it was a very loaded question, particularly when Arthur's eyes sought his own.

"I want to sleep; I need to sleep. But I'm not really tired any more," Merlin mumbled, looking down at the dog and running his hands absentmindedly through it's fur. He wasn't even that much of a dog person, but it just meant something to do with his hands rather than awkwardly twisting them like he was often prone to doing.

"Same. Do you want something to eat?"

Merlin hesitated for a second. "Sure."

"Right. Um, I don't have much in at the moment, but I do have some bacon and eggs and fruit. Would that be okay?"

Merlin, who was used to cheap cereal and milk that was only sometimes in date, immediately felt his mouth start to water.

"That sounds great," said Merlin honestly. Arthur smiled.

 

-

 

It was an odd situation to be in for Merlin. Sitting in Arthur's flat at Arthur's table while Arthur himself wandered around Arthur's kitchen... cooking. Chopping fruit, frying bacon, setting out plates like it was all totally normal. It was getting on for four in the morning and he was sitting in the apartment of someone that he didn't even knew very well with a random dog curled up on the floor by his feet and the smell of good food wafting lazily through the air.

If it had been an uglier apartment, maybe Merlin would have felt slightly less uncomfortable.

The layout of the place was probably the exact twin of Merlin's: a big main room that served as a kitchen and a living room, a bedroom off to the side, and a bathroom. But the two apartments could not be more different. Arthur had clean white walls and a posh carpet; there were two expensive-looking black leather sofas, and one dark grey armchair; there were fancy art prints that covered the walls, and he had a television that seemed like it was too big to be safe or practical. It looked like something from a movie: the kind of place that James Bond would seduce a rich woman whose husband had just died whilst suggestive jazz music was playing.

And there, sat at the black marble 'breakfast bar' on a fancy barstool, was Merlin dressed in children's pyjamas with cartoon fucking dragons on them.

He was way out of his depth.

But the food was nice. Really nice. Who knew Arthur could cook?

"Would you like some coffee?" Arthur asked, motioning to the pot on the counter. Mouth full of eggs, Merlin shook his head. Arthur shrugged and sat down next to him, tucking into his own plate of food.

Once they had finished eating, Arthur cleared the plates and sorted everything out, before turning back to Merlin.

"What do you want to do now? It's only 4am."

"Um... I don't mind."

"You're tired now, aren't you?" Arthur said with a grin. And it was true, the hot food had made Merlin drowsy. There was no point in denying it.

"Yeah, I am. I should probably head back to my place. Do you want me to take the dog-?"

"Don't be ridiculous. You should stay here, both you and the dog."

"Why?"

Arthur cocked his head to the side for a second, appearing to be considering his answer. Then he leaned in slightly and lowered his voice conspiratorially.

"Because I want you to. Besides, the dog is clearly way too comfortable here. And you couldn't possibly leave him - it would break his heart!"

"Is it the dog that would be heartbroken by my leaving or is it you?" 

"Maybe it's a little bit of both."

Too much eye contact, and the very air seemed hot between them. Merlin broke it first by looking down and nudging the dog with his foot.

"How do you know it's a boy dog, anyway?"

"Really, Merlin? I'm guessing you're not studying anatomy at university. It's pretty easy to tell-"

"Forget it, I don't want to know."

"It's probably a good thing I didn't give you sausages for breakfast."

"I hate you," Merlin groaned, but his laughter and happy eyes would suggest otherwise.

 

-

 

So that's how Merlin found himself lying on one of Arthur's expensive sofas staring up at the ceiling. Arthur had tried to make him take the bed, but he had refused. That would have been a step too far.

All of this was a step too far.

Not two hours ago, Merlin could have quite happily punched Arthur Pendragon in the face.

Now he was lying on his couch, for the lame reason that Arthur 'wanted him to stay'.

Funny, isn't it, how people can change their minds so quickly. 

 

-

 

"Merlin? Merlin, it's half past seven and that dog hasn't stopped barking for the last ten minutes, how are you still asleep?"

Merlin sat up groggily and looked over at Arthur, who was standing fully dressed in the middle of the room, trying to calm down the dog who was making little soft barking sounds.

"Maybe your sofa was just too comfortable for me," Merlin muttered, and it wasn't exactly a lie. It was one of the best sleeps he'd ever had - mainly because it was one of the few times that Arthur hadn't played any music, which was nice of him.

"I told you that you should have taken my bed, so you've only got yourself to blame."

"No, I'm being entirely serious - this sofa is ridiculously comfortable."

"Really? Wouldn't you have preferred to be in, y'know, an actual bed?"

"Well, the bed frame of my bed has nearly snapped in three different places, and the mattress is starting to have springs poking out of it, so..."

"Wow. Too many late night activities, huh?"

"Something like that."

Merlin got up slowly, starting to relish the fact that he didn't have to rush about to get ready.

"You will get a new mattress and stuff though, won't you?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, when I get round to it, yeah."

"Good. Don't want it keeping you up, you've got my music for that."

"You're never going to let that go, are you?"

"You threatened to burn my flat down, so no."

Merlin rolled his eyes, but laughed.

"I should probably go have a shower and get dressed," he said.

"You're welcome to use my shower if you want."

"Thanks, but I need to go get my clothes and stuff anyway, so I'll just shower at my place."

"Okay. Promise you'll come back?" Arthur said, with a grin that didn't seem entirely sure if it was serious.

"No, I'm just going to run to Mexico and leave you with full custody of a dog."

"With skin that pale you'd burn to a crisp the second you set foot in Mexico."

"True... I promise I'll come back, though."

"From Mexico?"

"Yep. Just to see the dog, though."

"Fair enough."

"I think so."

Merlin stood up and was about to grab his keys, when suddenly Arthur gestured for him to stop.

"What?"

"Do you want to call in sick before you go into the shower and start to wake up properly."

"Um, I guess."

"It's just your voice sounds kind of rough, so if you want to play up to the whole 'I'm really sick' thing, it could work."

"Okay yeah. What do I say? I've never done this before."

"Just say that you're feeling really super ill and won't be able to make it in today. If they ask, skirt around answering fully, just say that you woke up not feeling quite right. If they persist, give an incredibly detailed account of throwing up. It'll work, trust me."

 

-

 

Five minutes later, Merlin was just shutting the door of Arthur's apartment behind him after having made the phone call to his boss. He'd understood, and luckily he didn't have to give any graphic details of vomit.

"Merlin!"

Merlin looked up to see the only neighbour he really spoke to: Gwen, who lived across the hall at the end.

"Hey, Gwen, what's up?"

Gwen returned Merlin's warm smile, but with a touch more confusion and suspicion.

"Merlin, why are you coming out of Arthur's apartment in your pyjamas? I was just about to come over and ask if you wanted a lift into work."

"Um, I'm not going into work today. Basically, a random dog turned up outside my flat at like 3am this morning so Arthur and I are gonna try and locate the owners."

"Wait, wait, wait. You, Merlin Emrys, are taking a day off of work? And you're spending that day off work with Arthur Pendragon? I thought you hated him!"

"I do. Or, I did. He's alright really, I guess. And we're looking for the owners of a stray dog, it's not like we're going sightseeing."

"Uh huh. Wow, so you stayed over then?"

"Yes, but only because I couldn't be bothered to go back to my flat."

"You couldn't be bothered to walk a couple of metres to your own flat?"

"And I didn't want to leave the dog there. Besides, he gave me food."

"Uh huh."

"Gwen, don't give me that look," as Gwen continued to give him that look, Merlin lowered his voice, "He's not my type, okay? I literally just slept on his sofa. Don't get all excited."

"Uh huh."

Merlin shook his head at her as she started laughing at him, and walked over to his own flat.

 

-

 

"So, are you showered and ready to start then?" 

"Yeah, and while I was doing that I went out and quickly got a collar and a lead from the pet shop round the corner. It's nothing fancy but at least now we can keep a hold of him."

"Oh, that's a good idea. Right, so are we going to start on this floor then?"

"I think so. We only have to check a couple of the flats though, because I know for definite that most of the people don't have dogs."

And so Merlin and Arthur set out with their new friend to find it's family.

And they were unable to do it.

Everyone just said no. No they didn't have a dog, no they didn't have that particular dog, no they'd never seen that dog before. 

Once they'd checked the building from top to bottom, they decided they only had one vein of inquiry left.

"Right, I'll check at the maintenance office whilst you take the dog outside," said Merlin as they descended yet another set of stairs.

"Okay," was all that Arthur managed to say - after having been the main spokesperson of their search, he was pretty tired.

So Merlin checked at reception, and found that no tenants were listed as officially owning pet: of course that didn't mean that no pets were existing in the building, but that no one knew of them if they did.

Merlin was just walking outside, when suddenly Arthur was running up to meet him, the dog trotting after him excitedly.

"Merlin, we have a bit of a situation," he sounded like he was trying to remain calm, but he certainly seemed stressed.

"What's happened?" Merlin asked nervously.

"The dog went for a shit on the pavement and I don't know what to do!"

Merlin let out a sigh of relief.

"Is that it? Christ, Arthur, I thought you meant that someone tried to shoot and kidnap the dog!"

"But what do we do?"

"... We pick it up and put it in the bin," said Merlin slowly and clearly.

"Really?" Said Arthur uncertainly.

"Oh my god! Look, just come with me. I have a plastic bag with me, we'll pick it up with that."

"Oh. Ok."

"Then we'll find the nearest bin and put it in there."

"Right. Sounds like a plan."

"And then next time this happens, maybe you'll be able to do it yourself?"

"Unless we find the owner before then," said Arthur hopefully.

"Well, I spoke to the maintenance office, and no one officially owns a pet in our building. Since we were able to speak to most people, I think it's fairly safe to assume that the dog doesn't live in our building."

"So what now?"

"I guess we take him along to the police station and ask if there's a rescue centre we can send him to. They'll take good care of him, and if his owners come forward then they can get him back."

"I guess. I don't just want to send him off somewhere. What if he gets lonely?"

"Arthur! It's important that we don't get attached. The whole point of this is that we find his owners and he goes home."

"Yeah, but... I don't think he has any owners. He might just be a stray, and if we send him to a rescue centre then he might get adopted by a really horrible family, and-"

"Arthur, we are not keeping him. We can't!"

"But-"

"No buts. We're taking him to the police station, and then we'll take him wherever they tell us to."

 

-

 

"What did they say, do they want to see him?"

Merlin pulled himself into Arthur's car and fastened his seatbelt before turning to face him.

"They won't take him. And it's unlikely that any local rescue centre will either."

"What?!"

"There's really limited funding at the moment when it comes to keeping dogs long-term. He'd be placed on a waiting list, but... It's a big city, and lots of stray dogs get reported every day."

"So what do we do?"

"They said they'd let us know if anyone reports their dog being missing, but in the mean time, since he's not microchipped and without a name tag... we have to find him a new home, or look after him ourselves."

"So what do we do?"

"I don't know! I don't know," Merlin pressed a head against his forehead, "Arthur I can't take care of a dog. I... I don't have enough money for it right now, and I'm busy with work and uni and-"

"I can do it. He can live at my apartment! He'll still be close to you, you're right next door. We can share him, he'll be our dog - like joint custody! Merlin, please, let's keep him."

"Are you sure? What if-"

"No buts, no what-ifs. We can get him microchipped, get him one of those tags that goes on his collar to say where he lives. We'll register him at the vets, make sure his up to date with vaccinations. If someone claims him then... great. But until then he can be ours, Merlin."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I think so. There'll be a lot to do but... We can do it."

And then Merlin was hugging him. Hard. They were pressed as tight as they could be in a car with seat belts fastened. And when they pulled apart, it was only as far as a breath away: Arthur's hand reached up to brush Merlin's face, and each could feel the warmth of the other's breath.

"Are you sure about this?"

"I'm positive. At least now you'll have an obligation to come round: otherwise the dog'll miss you. And so will I, by the way."

"He needs a name, if we're keeping him," Merlin changed the subject, trying to the tears that were threatening him. But he kept looking at Arthur.

"He should be called something relevant, to us, Merlin and Arthur..."

"Like something to do with the legends?"

"Exactly. King? Camelot?"

"Like the knights of the round table?"

"We are not calling our dog Table-"

"No, but we could call him Knight?"

"Knight. Knight. I like that."

Arthur looked down at the dog, who was sitting in the back and resting his face down between their two seats. He reached out to ruffle his fur.

"I knight thee... Sir Knight Pendragon-Emrys."

"You're a dork."

"I'm your dork now, though. Sorry, you're stuck with me."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

And then they were kissing, and Knight was barking at them a little, as if to tell them to start up the goddamn car. And they were laughing, and it was Magical.

**Author's Note:**

> The ending is kinda hurried because I realised I have to go and do something so yh sorry bout that lol


End file.
